User equipment fixed frame period for frame based equipment mode in unlicensed spectrum

ABSTRACT

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment (UE) may determine a fixed frame period (FFP) configured for the UE in a frame based equipment mode. The FFP configured for the UE includes one or more idle periods and a channel occupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured for a base station communicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel. The UE may refrain from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the one or more idle periods. The one or more idle periods may at least partially overlap with a time period in which the base station refrains from transmitting over the unlicensed channel. Numerous other aspects are provided.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/706,179, filed on Aug. 4, 2020, entitled “USEREQUIPMENT FIXED FRAME PERIOD FOR FRAME BASED EQUIPMENT MODE INUNLICENSED SPECTRUM,” and assigned to the assignee hereof. Thedisclosure of the prior application is considered part of and isincorporated by reference into this patent application.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wirelesscommunication and to techniques and apparatuses for providing a userequipment (UE) fixed frame period (FFP) for frame based equipment (FBE)mode in unlicensed spectrum.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide varioustelecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging,and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employmultiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication withmultiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth,transmit power, or the like). Examples of such multiple-accesstechnologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, timedivision multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multipleaccess (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency-division multiple access(OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency-division multiple access(SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multipleaccess (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE).LTE/LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by theThird Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

A wireless network may include a number of base stations (BSs) that cansupport communication for a number of user equipment (UEs). A UE maycommunicate with a BS via the downlink and uplink. “Downlink” (or“forward link”) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE,and “uplink” (or “reverse link”) refers to the communication link fromthe UE to the BS. As will be described in more detail herein, a BS maybe referred to as a Node B, a gNB, an access point (AP), a radio head, atransmit receive point (TRP), a New Radio (NR) BS, a 5G Node B, or thelike.

The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in varioustelecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enablesdifferent user equipment to communicate on a municipal, national,regional, and even global level. NR, which may also be referred to as5G, is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated bythe 3GPP. NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internetaccess by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improvingservices, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with otheropen standards using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)with a cyclic prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the downlink (DL), using CP-OFDMand/or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete Fourier transform spreadOFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)) on the uplink (UL), as well as supportingbeamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology,and carrier aggregation. As the demand for mobile broadband accesscontinues to increase, further improvements in LTE, NR, and other radioaccess technologies remain useful.

SUMMARY

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication performed by a userequipment (UE) includes: determining a fixed frame period (FFP)configured for the UE in a frame based equipment (FBE) mode, wherein theFFP configured for the UE includes one or more idle periods and achannel occupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured for a basestation communicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel; andrefraining from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the oneor more idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the base station refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel.

In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication includes: a memory; andone or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory andthe one or more processors configured to: determine an FFP configuredfor the UE in an FBE mode, wherein the FFP configured for the UEincludes one or more idle periods and a channel occupancy time that isoffset from an FFP configured for a base station communicating with theUE over an unlicensed channel; and refrain from transmitting over theunlicensed channel during the one or more idle periods, wherein the oneor more idle periods at least partially overlap with a time period inwhich the base station refrains from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel.

In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a setof instructions for wireless communication includes: one or moreinstructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a UE,cause the UE to: determine an FFP configured for the UE in an FBE mode,wherein the FFP configured for the UE includes one or more idle periodsand a channel occupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured for abase station communicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel; andrefrain from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the one ormore idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the base station refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication includes: meansfor determining an FFP configured for the apparatus in an FBE mode,wherein the FFP configured for the apparatus includes one or more idleperiods and a channel occupancy time that is offset from an FFPconfigured for a base station communicating with the apparatus over anunlicensed channel; and means for refraining from transmitting over theunlicensed channel during the one or more idle periods, wherein the oneor more idle periods at least partially overlap with a time period inwhich the base station refrains from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel.

Aspects generally include a method, apparatus, system, computer programproduct, non-transitory computer-readable medium, user equipment, basestation, wireless communication device, and/or processing system assubstantially described herein with reference to and as illustrated bythe drawings and specification.

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technicaladvantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that thedetailed description that follows may be better understood. Additionalfeatures and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conceptionand specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis formodifying or designing other structures for carrying out the samepurposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do notdepart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of theconcepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method ofoperation, together with associated advantages will be better understoodfrom the following description when considered in connection with theaccompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purposesof illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limitsof the claims.

While aspects are described in the present disclosure by illustration tosome examples, those skilled in the art will understand that suchaspects may be implemented in many different arrangements and scenarios.Techniques described herein may be implemented using different platformtypes, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and/or packaging arrangements.For example, some aspects may be implemented via integrated chipembodiments or other non-module-component based devices (e.g., end-userdevices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrialequipment, retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, or artificialintelligence-enabled devices). Aspects may be implemented in chip-levelcomponents, modular components, non-modular components, non-chip-levelcomponents, device-level components, or system-level components. Devicesincorporating described aspects and features may include additionalcomponents and features for implementation and practice of claimed anddescribed aspects. For example, transmission and reception of wirelesssignals may include a number of components for analog and digitalpurposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, poweramplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor(s), interleavers, adders, orsummers). It is intended that aspects described herein may be practicedin a wide variety of devices, components, systems, distributedarrangements, or end-user devices of varying size, shape, andconstitution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the above-recited features of the present disclosure can beunderstood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarizedabove, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustratedin the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appendeddrawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure andare therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for thedescription may admit to other equally effective aspects. The samereference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similarelements.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network, inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station incommunication with a UE in a wireless network, in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of an unlicensed radiofrequency band, in accordance with the present disclosure.

FIGS. 4A-4C are diagrams illustrating examples of a fixed frame period(FFP) that includes a channel occupancy time during which one or moredevices may conduct transmissions in an unlicensed channel, inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIGS. 5A-5F are diagrams illustrating examples associated with providinga UE FFP for frame based equipment (FBE) mode in unlicensed spectrum, inaccordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example process associated withproviding a UE FFP for FBE mode in unlicensed spectrum, in accordancewith the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafterwith reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may,however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construedas limited to any specific structure or function presented throughoutthis disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that thisdisclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey thescope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on theteachings herein, one skilled in the art should appreciate that thescope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of thedisclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of orcombined with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, anapparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using anynumber of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of thedisclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which ispracticed using other structure, functionality, or structure andfunctionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of thedisclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect ofthe disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elementsof a claim.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented withreference to various apparatuses and techniques. These apparatuses andtechniques will be described in the following detailed description andillustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules,components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, or the like(collectively referred to as “elements”). These elements may beimplemented using hardware, software, or combinations thereof. Whethersuch elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem.

It should be noted that while aspects may be described herein usingterminology commonly associated with a 5G or NR radio access technology(RAT), aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to other RATs,such as a 3G RAT, a 4G RAT, and/or a RAT subsequent to 5G (e.g., 6G).

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network 100,in accordance with the present disclosure. The wireless network 100 maybe or may include elements of a 5G (NR) network and/or an LTE network,among other examples. The wireless network 100 may include a number ofbase stations 110 (shown as BS 110 a, BS 110 b, BS 110 c, and BS 110 d)and other network entities. A base station (BS) is an entity thatcommunicates with user equipment (UEs) and may also be referred to as anNR BS, a Node B, a gNB, a 5G node B (NB), an access point, a transmitreceive point (TRP), or the like. Each BS may provide communicationcoverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” canrefer to a coverage area of a BS and/or a BS subsystem serving thiscoverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, afemto cell, and/or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover arelatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius)and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. Apico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allowunrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell maycover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allowrestricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g.,UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG)). ABS for a macro cell may bereferred to as a macro BS. ABS for a pico cell may be referred to as apico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or ahome BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1 , a BS 110 a may be a macro BSfor a macro cell 102 a, a BS 110 b may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102b, and a BS 110 c may be a femto BS for a femto cell 102 c. A BS maysupport one or multiple (e.g., three) cells. The terms “eNB”, “basestation”, “NR BS”, “gNB”, “TRP”, “AP”, “node B”, “5G NB”, and “cell” maybe used interchangeably herein.

In some aspects, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and thegeographic area of the cell may move according to the location of amobile BS. In some aspects, the BSs may be interconnected to one anotherand/or to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in thewireless network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces, suchas a direct physical connection or a virtual network, using any suitabletransport network.

Wireless network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station isan entity that can receive a transmission of data from an upstreamstation (e.g., a BS or a UE) and send a transmission of the data to adownstream station (e.g., a UE or a BS). A relay station may also be aUE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown inFIG. 1 , a relay BS 110 d may communicate with macro BS 110 a and a UE120 d in order to facilitate communication between BS 110 a and UE 120d. A relay BS may also be referred to as a relay station, a relay basestation, a relay, or the like.

Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes BSs ofdifferent types, such as macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, orthe like. These different types of BSs may have different transmit powerlevels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interferencein wireless network 100. For example, macro BSs may have a high transmitpower level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts) whereas pico BSs, femto BSs, and relayBSs may have lower transmit power levels (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and may providecoordination and control for these BSs. Network controller 130 maycommunicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicatewith one another, directly or indirectly, via a wireless or wirelinebackhaul.

UEs 120 (e.g., 120 a, 120 b, 120 c) may be dispersed throughout wirelessnetwork 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also bereferred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station, asubscriber unit, a station, or the like. A UE may be a cellular phone(e.g., a smart phone), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wirelessmodem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptopcomputer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, atablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook,a medical device or equipment, biometric sensors/devices, wearabledevices (smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristbands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet)), anentertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satelliteradio), a vehicular component or sensor, smart meters/sensors,industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device,or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via awireless or wired medium.

Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) or evolvedor enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC and eMTC UEsinclude, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters,monitors, and/or location tags, that may communicate with a basestation, another device (e.g., remote device), or some other entity. Awireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network(e.g., a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via awired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be consideredInternet-of-Things (IoT) devices, and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT(narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered aCustomer Premises Equipment (CPE). UE 120 may be included inside ahousing that houses components of UE 120, such as processor componentsand/or memory components. In some aspects, the processor components andthe memory components may be coupled together. For example, theprocessor components (e.g., one or more processors) and the memorycomponents (e.g., a memory) may be operatively coupled, communicativelycoupled, electronically coupled, and/or electrically coupled.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a givengeographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT andmay operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to asa radio technology, an air interface, or the like. A frequency may alsobe referred to as a carrier, a frequency channel, or the like. Eachfrequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in orderto avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. Insome cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE 120 a and UE 120e) may communicate directly using one or more sidelink channels (e.g.,without using a base station 110 as an intermediary to communicate withone another). For example, the UEs 120 may communicate usingpeer-to-peer (P2P) communications, device-to-device (D2D)communications, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocol (e.g., which mayinclude a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol or avehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol), and/or a mesh network. Inthis case, the UE 120 may perform scheduling operations, resourceselection operations, and/or other operations described elsewhere hereinas being performed by the base station 110.

Additionally, or alternatively, the wireless network 100 may include oneor more WLAN access points 140 and one or more WLAN stations 150. Withreference to the WLAN of the wireless network 100, the WLAN accesspoints 140 may wirelessly communicate with the WLAN stations 150 via oneor more WLAN access point antennas, over one or more communicationlinks. In some aspects, a WLAN access point 140 may communicate with aWLAN station 150 using one or more Wi-Fi communication standards, suchas an Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) Standard 802.11(e.g., IEEE Standard 802.11a, IEEE Standard 802.11n, or IEEE Standard802.11ac). In some aspects, a WLAN access point 140 and a base station110 may be the same device or may be co-located. Additionally, oralternatively, a WLAN station 150 and a UE 120 may be the same device ormay be co-located.

Devices of wireless network 100 may communicate using theelectromagnetic spectrum, which may be subdivided based on frequency orwavelength into various classes, bands, channels, or the like. Forexample, devices of wireless network 100 may communicate using anoperating band having a first frequency range (FR1), which may span from410 MHz to 7.125 GHz, and/or may communicate using an operating bandhaving a second frequency range (FR2), which may span from 24.25 GHz to52.6 GHz. The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are sometimes referred toas mid-band frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, FR1 is often referred to as a “sub-6 GHz” band. Similarly, FR2 isoften referred to as a “millimeter wave” band despite being differentfrom the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) which isidentified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as a“millimeter wave” band. Thus, unless specifically stated otherwise, itshould be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like, if usedherein, may broadly represent frequencies less than 6 GHz, frequencieswithin FR1, and/or mid-band frequencies (e.g., greater than 7.125 GHz).Similarly, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understoodthat the term “millimeter wave” or the like, if used herein, may broadlyrepresent frequencies within the EHF band, frequencies within FR2,and/or mid-band frequencies (e.g., less than 24.25 GHz). It iscontemplated that the frequencies included in FR1 and FR2 may bemodified, and techniques described herein are applicable to thosemodified frequency ranges.

In some aspects, devices of wireless network 100 may communicate withone another using a licensed radio frequency spectrum band and/or anunlicensed radio frequency spectrum band. For example, a base station110 and a UE 120 may communicate using a RAT such as Licensed-AssistedAccess (LAA), Enhanced LAA (eLAA), Further Enhanced LAA (feLAA),NR-Unlicensed (NR-U), and/or the like. In some aspects, a WLAN accesspoint 140 and WLAN station 150 may communicate with one another usingonly the unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band (and not the licensedradio frequency spectrum band). The unlicensed radio frequency spectrumband may therefore be shared by the base stations 110, the UEs 120, theWLAN access points 140, the WLAN stations 150, and/or the like. Becausethe unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band may be shared by devicesoperating under different protocols (e.g., different RATs), transmittingdevices may need to contend for access to the unlicensed radio frequencyspectrum band prior to transmitting.

As indicated above, FIG. 1 is provided as an example. Other examples maydiffer from what is described with regard to FIG. 1 .

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example 200 of a base station 110 incommunication with a UE 120 in a wireless network 100, in accordancewith the present disclosure. Base station 110 may be equipped with Tantennas 234 a through 234 t, and UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas252 a through 252 r, where in general T≥1 and R≥1.

At base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from adata source 212 for one or more UEs, select one or more modulation andcoding schemes (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on channelquality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE, process (e.g., encodeand modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS(s)selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmitprocessor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-staticresource partitioning information (SRPI)) and control information (e.g.,CQI requests, grants, and/or upper layer signaling) and provide overheadsymbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generatereference symbols for reference signals (e.g., a cell-specific referencesignal (CRS) or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS)) andsynchronization signals (e.g., a primary synchronization signal (PSS) ora secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). A transmit (TX)multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatialprocessing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols,the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, andmay provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232 a through232 t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream(e.g., for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, andupconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. Tdownlink signals from modulators 232 a through 232 t may be transmittedvia T antennas 234 a through 234 t, respectively.

At UE 120, antennas 252 a through 252 r may receive the downlink signalsfrom base station 110 and/or other base stations and may providereceived signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254 a through 254 r,respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify,downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples.Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., forOFDM) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtainreceived symbols from all R demodulators 254 a through 254 r, performMIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and providedetected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulateand decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120 to adata sink 260, and provide decoded control information and systeminformation to a controller/processor 280. The term“controller/processor” may refer to one or more controllers, one or moreprocessors, or a combination thereof. A channel processor may determinea reference signal received power (RSRP) parameter, a received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) parameter, a reference signal received quality(RSRQ) parameter, and/or a channel quality indicator (CQI) parameter,among other examples. In some aspects, one or more components of UE 120may be included in a housing 284.

Network controller 130 may include communication unit 294,controller/processor 290, and memory 292. Network controller 130 mayinclude, for example, one or more devices in a core network. Networkcontroller 130 may communicate with base station 110 via communicationunit 294.

Antennas (e.g., antennas 234 a through 234 t and/or antennas 252 athrough 252 r) may include, or may be included within, one or moreantenna panels, antenna groups, sets of antenna elements, and/or antennaarrays, among other examples. An antenna panel, an antenna group, a setof antenna elements, and/or an antenna array may include one or moreantenna elements. An antenna panel, an antenna group, a set of antennaelements, and/or an antenna array may include a set of coplanar antennaelements and/or a set of non-coplanar antenna elements. An antennapanel, an antenna group, a set of antenna elements, and/or an antennaarray may include antenna elements within a single housing and/orantenna elements within multiple housings. An antenna panel, an antennagroup, a set of antenna elements, and/or an antenna array may includeone or more antenna elements coupled to one or more transmission and/orreception components, such as one or more components of FIG. 2 .

On the uplink, at UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive andprocess data from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., forreports that include RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, and/or CQI) fromcontroller/processor 280. Transmit processor 264 may also generatereference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols fromtransmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 ifapplicable, further processed by modulators 254 a through 254 r (e.g.,for DFT-s-OFDM or CP-OFDM), and transmitted to base station 110. In someaspects, a modulator and a demodulator (e.g., MOD/DEMOD 254) of the UE120 may be included in a modem of the UE 120. In some aspects, the UE120 includes a transceiver. The transceiver may include any combinationof antenna(s) 252, modulators and/or demodulators 254, MIMO detector256, receive processor 258, transmit processor 264, and/or TX MIMOprocessor 266. The transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g.,controller/processor 280) and memory 282 to perform aspects of any ofthe methods described herein (for example, as described with referenceto FIGS. 5A-5F and/or FIG. 6 ).

At base station 110, the uplink signals from UE 120 and other UEs may bereceived by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by aMIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receiveprocessor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by UE120. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink239 and the decoded control information to controller/processor 240.Base station 110 may include communication unit 244 and communicate tonetwork controller 130 via communication unit 244. Base station 110 mayinclude a scheduler 246 to schedule UEs 120 for downlink and/or uplinkcommunications. In some aspects, a modulator and a demodulator (e.g.,MOD/DEMOD 232) of the base station 110 may be included in a modem of thebase station 110. In some aspects, the base station 110 includes atransceiver. The transceiver may include any combination of antenna(s)234, modulators and/or demodulators 232, MIMO detector 236, receiveprocessor 238, transmit processor 220, and/or TX MIMO processor 230. Thetransceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor 240)and memory 242 to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein(for example, as described with reference to FIGS. 5A-5F and/or FIG. 6).

Controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280of UE 120, and/or any other component(s) of FIG. 2 may perform one ormore techniques associated with a UE fixed frame period (FFP) for framebased equipment (FBE) mode in unlicensed spectrum, as described in moredetail elsewhere herein. For example, controller/processor 240 of basestation 110, controller/processor 280 of UE 120, and/or any othercomponent(s) of FIG. 2 may perform or direct operations of, for example,process 600 of FIG. 6 and/or other processes as described herein.Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for base station110 and UE 120, respectively. In some aspects, memory 242 and/or memory282 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one ormore instructions (e.g., code and/or program code) for wirelesscommunication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed(e.g., directly, or after compiling, converting, and/or interpreting) byone or more processors of the base station 110 and/or the UE 120, maycause the one or more processors, the UE 120, and/or the base station110 to perform or direct operations of, for example, process 600 of FIG.6 and/or other processes as described herein. In some aspects, executinginstructions may include running the instructions, converting theinstructions, compiling the instructions, and/or interpreting theinstructions, among other examples.

In some aspects, UE 120 may include means for determining an FFPconfigured for UE 120 in an FBE mode, where the FFP configured for UE120 includes one or more idle periods and a channel occupancy time thatis offset from an FFP configured for base station 110 to communicatewith UE 120 over an unlicensed channel, means for refraining fromtransmitting over the unlicensed channel during the one or more idleperiods, where the one or more idle periods at least partially overlapwith a time period in which the base station 110 refrains fromtransmitting over the unlicensed channel, and/or the like. In someaspects, such means may include one or more components of UE 120described in connection with FIG. 2 , such as controller/processor 280,transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, MOD 254, antenna 252,DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, and/or the like.

While blocks in FIG. 2 are illustrated as distinct components, thefunctions described above with respect to the blocks may be implementedin a single hardware, software, or combination component or in variouscombinations of components. For example, the functions described withrespect to the transmit processor 264, the receive processor 258, and/orthe TX MIMO processor 266 may be performed by or under the control ofcontroller/processor 280.

As indicated above, FIG. 2 is provided as an example. Other examples maydiffer from what is described with regard to FIG. 2 .

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example 300 of an unlicensed radiofrequency band, in accordance with the present disclosure.

To accommodate increasing traffic demands, there have been variousefforts to improve spectral efficiency in wireless networks and therebyincrease network capacity (e.g., via use of higher order modulations,advanced MIMO antenna technologies, multi-cell coordination techniques,and/or the like). Another way to potentially improve network capacity isto expand system bandwidth. However, available spectrum in lowerfrequency bands that have traditionally been licensed or otherwiseallocated to mobile network operators has become very scarce.Accordingly, various technologies have been developed to enable acellular radio access technology (RAT) to operate in unlicensed or othershared spectrum. For example, Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA) usescarrier aggregation on a downlink to combine LTE in a licensed frequencyband with LTE in an unlicensed frequency band (e.g., the 2.4 and/or 5GHz bands already populated by wireless local area network (WLAN) or“Wi-Fi” devices). In other examples, Enhanced LAA (eLAA) and FurtherEnhanced LAA (feLAA) technologies enable both uplink and downlink LTEoperation in unlicensed spectrum, MulteFire is an LTE-based technologythat operates in unlicensed and shared spectrum in a standalone mode,NR-U enables NR operation in unlicensed spectrum, and/or the like.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3 , and by reference number 305, anunlicensed radio frequency (RF) band, such as a 6 gigahertz (GHz)unlicensed RF band, may span a frequency range and may utilize frequencydivision duplexing (FDD). In an FDD system, a first band (e.g., a firstsub-band of the unlicensed RF band) may be used for downlinkcommunication, as shown by reference number 310, and a second band(e.g., a second sub-band of the unlicensed RF band) may be used foruplink communication, as shown by reference number 315. Downlinkcommunication may refer to communication from a control node to a node(e.g., that is controlled, configured, and/or scheduled by the controlnode), such as from a base station 110 to a UE 120, from a WLAN accesspoint 140 to a WLAN station 150, and/or the like. Uplink communicationmay refer to communication from the node to the control node, such asfrom a UE 120 to a base station 110, from a WLAN station 150 to a WLANaccess point 140, and/or the like.

As further shown in FIG. 3 , and by reference number 320, the downlinkband may be divided into multiple downlink channels, sometimes referredto as downlink frequency channels. Similarly, as shown by referencenumber 325, the uplink band may be divided into multiple uplinkchannels, sometimes referred to as uplink frequency channels. As shownby reference number 330, each downlink channel may correspond to asingle uplink channel. This may be referred to as channel pairing, wherea downlink channel is paired with an uplink channel. In thisconfiguration, a control node and a node may use a particular downlinkchannel for downlink communication, and may use a particular uplinkchannel, that is paired with or corresponds to the particular downlinkchannel, for uplink communication. In example 300, downlink channel 1 ispaired with uplink channel 1, downlink channel 2 is paired with uplinkchannel 2, downlink channel 3 is paired with uplink channel 3, and soon.

While the example 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 shows an unlicensed RF bandthat utilizes FDD, in some cases, an unlicensed communication channelmay utilize time division duplexing (TDD). For example, in an unlicensedcommunication channel that utilizes TDD, uplink and downlinktransmissions may be separated in time and conducted on the samefrequency channel. However, unlike TDD in licensed spectrum, a subframe,slot, symbol and/or the like is not restricted to being configured foruplink communication or downlink communication, and may be configuredfor downlink transmissions by a base station or for uplink transmissionsby a UE. Furthermore, unlicensed communication may support dynamic TDD,where an uplink-downlink allocation may change over time to adapt totraffic conditions. For example, to enable dynamic TDD, a wirelessdevice (e.g., a base station, a UE, and/or the like) may determine whento transmit and in which resource to transmit according to an indicationof a channel occupancy time structure. In general, the channel occupancytime may include multiple transmission intervals (e.g., multiple slots),and each transmission interval may include one or more downlinkresources, one or more uplink resources, one or more flexible resources,and/or the like. In this way, the channel occupancy time structurereduces power consumption, channel access delay, and/or the like.

In an unlicensed RF band (e.g., the 6 GHz unlicensed RF band), all or aportion of the frequency band may be licensed to entities referred to asfixed service incumbents. Accordingly, when operating a cellular RAT inunlicensed spectrum (e.g., using LAA, eLAA, feLAA, MulteFire, NR-U,and/or the like), one challenge that arises is the need to ensure faircoexistence with incumbent (e.g., WLAN) devices that may be operating inthe unlicensed spectrum. For example, prior to gaining access to and/ortransmitting over an unlicensed channel, a transmitting device (e.g.,base station 110, UE 120, and/or the like) may need to perform alisten-before-talk (LBT) procedure to contend for access to theunlicensed channel. The LBT procedure may include a clear channelassessment (CCA) procedure to determine whether the unlicensed channelis available (e.g., unoccupied by other transmitters). In particular, adevice performing a CCA procedure may detect an energy level on anunlicensed channel and determine whether the energy level satisfies(e.g., is less than or equal to) a threshold, sometimes referred to asan energy detection threshold and/or the like. When the energy levelsatisfies (e.g., is below) the threshold, the LBT procedure is deemed tobe successful and the transmitting device may gain access to theunlicensed channel for a duration referred to as a channel occupancytime. During the channel occupancy time, the transmitting device canperform one or more transmissions without having to perform anyadditional LBT operations. However, when the energy level fails tosatisfy (e.g., equals or exceeds) the energy detection threshold, theLBT procedure fails and contention to access the unlicensed channel bythe transmitting device is unsuccessful.

In cases where the LBT procedure fails due to the CCA procedureresulting in a determination that the unlicensed channel band isunavailable (e.g., because the energy level detected on the unlicensedchannel indicates that another device is already using the channel), theCCA procedure may be performed again at a later time. In environments inwhich the transmitting device may be starved of access to an unlicensedchannel (e.g., due to WLAN activity or transmissions by other devices),an extended CCA (eCCA) procedure may be employed to increase thelikelihood that the transmitting device will successfully obtain accessto the unlicensed channel. For example, a transmitting device performingan eCCA procedure may perform a random quantity of CCA procedures (from1 to q), in accordance with an eCCA counter. If and/or when thetransmitting device senses that the channel has become clear, thetransmitting device may start a random wait period based on the eCCAcounter and start to transmit if the channel remains clear over therandom wait period.

As indicated above, FIG. 3 is provided as an example. Other examples maydiffer from what is described with regard to FIG. 3 .

FIGS. 4A-4C are diagrams illustrating examples 400 of a fixed frameperiod that includes a channel occupancy time during which one or moredevices may conduct transmissions in an unlicensed channel, inaccordance with the present disclosure.

In a wireless network that supports communication in unlicensedspectrum, an LBT procedure may be performed in either a load basedequipment (LBE) mode or a frame based equipment (FBE) mode. In the LBEmode, a transmitting device may perform channel sensing in associationwith an LBT procedure at any time, and a random backoff is used in caseswhere the unlicensed channel is found to be busy. In the FBE mode, abase station may perform channel sensing in association with an LBTprocedure at fixed time instances, and the base station waits until afixed time period has elapsed before sensing the unlicensed channelagain in cases where the unlicensed channel is found to be busy. Inparticular, the fixed time instances when the base station performschannel sensing may be defined according to a fixed frame period (FFP).

For example, FIG. 4A depicts an example FFP 410 that a base station mayuse to communicate in unlicensed spectrum. As shown in FIG. 4A, the FFP410 may include a channel occupancy time (COT) 412 during which the basestation may transmit one or more downlink communications. In some cases,as described below with reference to FIG. 4B, the base station may sharethe channel occupancy time 412 with a UE to enable the UE to transmitone or more uplink communications during the channel occupancy time 412.As shown in FIG. 4A, the FFP 410 may further include an idle period 414(sometimes referred to as a gap period and/or the like) at an end of theFFP 410, after the channel occupancy time 412. In particular, the FFP410 includes the idle period 414 to provide time for performing an LBTprocedure for a next FFP 410. The FFP 410, including the channeloccupancy time 412 and the idle period 414, may have a 1 millisecond(ms) duration, a 2 ms duration, a 2.5 ms duration, a 4 ms duration, a 5ms duration, a 10 ms duration, and/or the like. Within every two radioframes (e.g., even radio frames), starting positions of the FFPs 410 maybe given by i*P, where i={0, 1, . . . , 20/P−1} and P is the duration ofthe FFP 410 in ms. For a given subcarrier spacing (SCS), the idle period414 may be a ceiling value for a minimum idle period allowed byregulations, divided by Ts, where the minimum duration of the idleperiod 414 is a maximum of 100 microseconds (μs) and 5% of the durationof the FFP 410, and Ts is the symbol duration for the given SCS.Accordingly, the idle period 414 may generally occupy no less than 5% ofthe duration of the FFP 410, and the channel occupancy time 412 mayoccupy no more than 95% of the duration of the FFP 410.

An FFP configuration for the FBE mode may be included in a systeminformation block (e.g., SIB-1) or signaled to a UE in UE-specific radioresource control (RRC) signaling. If the network indicates FBE operationfor fallback downlink and uplink grants, for an indication of LBTCategory 2 (25 μs), or LBT without random backoff, or Category 4, or LBTwith random backoff and a variable size contention window, the UE mayfollow a mechanism whereby one 9 μs slot (e.g., one shot LBT) ismeasured within a 25 μs interval. UE transmissions within the FFP 410may occur if one or more downlink signals or downlink channels (e.g., aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a synchronization signalblock (SSB), a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), remaining minimumsystem information (RMSI), a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH), and/or thelike) are detected within the FFP 410. The same 2-bit field may be usedin LBE mode and FBE mode to indicate an LBT type, a cyclic prefixextension, a channel access priority class indication, and/or the like.

In Release 16 NR unlicensed (NR-U) FBE mode, only a base station can actas an initiating device, and a UE may only act as a responding device.In NR-U FBE mode, channel access rules may thus be as follows. If thebase station is to initiate a channel occupancy time 412, a Category 1(Cat-1) LBT procedure may not apply and the base station may perform aCategory 2 (Cat-2) LBT procedure in the idle period 414 just prior to anFFP 410. If the base station is to transmit a downlink burst in thechannel occupancy time 412 initiated by the base station, the basestation may perform a Cat-1 LBT procedure if a gap from a previousdownlink or uplink burst is within 16 μs, and may otherwise perform aCat-2 LBT procedure if the gap is more than 16 μs. If the UE is totransmit an uplink burst in the channel occupancy time 412 initiated bythe base station, the UE may perform a Cat-1 LBT procedure if the gapfrom the previous downlink or uplink burst is within 16 μs, and mayotherwise perform the Cat-2 LBT procedure if the gap is greater than 16μs. Notably, the Cat-2 LBT procedure for FBE mode may be different fromthe Cat-2 LBT procedure (25 μs or 16 μs) in LBE mode. In some aspects,one 9 μs measurement right before the transmission may be needed, withat least 4 μs for measurement. As shown by reference number 416, the 9μs measurement needed to start a channel occupancy time 412 in a nextFFP 410 may be referred to as a one-shot LBT. However, neither the Cat-1LBT procedure nor the Cat-2 LBT procedure applies in cases where the UEis to initiate a channel occupancy time in FBE mode, because a UE cannotinitiate a channel occupancy time in Release 16 NR-U FBE mode.

Accordingly, although a wireless network can be configured to useunlicensed spectrum to achieve faster data rates, provide a moreresponsive user experience, offload traffic from a licensed spectrum,and/or the like, one limitation in FBE mode is that a UE cannot initiatea channel occupancy time to perform uplink transmissions. In some cases,in order to improve access, efficiency, and/or the like for anunlicensed channel, a wireless network may permit a base station toshare a channel occupancy time with a UE. For example, as shown in FIG.4B, and by reference number 420, a base station may transmit a COTindicator to one or more UEs (e.g., using group common downlink controlinformation (DCI)) in cases where the base station successfully contendsfor access to an unlicensed channel (e.g., by performing an LBTprocedure that passes), and the COT indicator from the base station mayindicate that the one or more UEs do not need to start an FFP. Instead,the one or more UEs can share the channel occupancy time acquired by thebase station and transmit one or more uplink communications during theshared channel occupancy time.

In a fully controlled environment, permitting only the base station tocontend for access to the unlicensed channel and share a channeloccupancy time initiated by the base station with one or more UEs may besufficient. For example, as described herein, a “fully controlled”environment may be an environment that is restricted or otherwisecontrolled such that there will be no other RAT or operators operatingin the coverage area. Consequently, in a fully controlled environment,an LBT procedure may always pass, even in FBE mode. In practice,however, a fully controlled environment may be difficult to achievebecause there may be a chance that some other RAT is operating even incases where the environment is cleared. For example, an employee in anotherwise cleared factory environment may be carrying a WLAN stationthat transmits a WLAN access probe even though there are no WLAN accesspoints deployed in the factory environment. Accordingly, in an almostfully controlled environment, there is a small chance that an LBTprocedure performed by a base station will fail, which may result inunacceptable performance for services having stringent quality ofservice requirements (e.g., ultra-reliable low-latency communication(URLLC), industrial internet of things (IIoT) applications, and/or thelike). For example, even in cases where an LBT failure rate is as low as10⁻³, there is a 10⁻³ probability that a URLLC packet scheduled to bedelivered in an FFP cannot be delivered because both the base stationand any UE(s) in communication with the base station have to surrenderthe entire FFP due to failure of an LBT procedure performed by the basestation at the beginning of the FFP. The 10⁻³ failure probability may beinsufficient to satisfy a URLLC reliability requirement, which typicallyrequires a reliability of 10⁻⁶ or better. Furthermore, these problemsare exacerbated in uncontrolled environments where there may be manyincumbent and/or competing devices contending for access to theunlicensed channel.

Accordingly, in cases where an LBT procedure is to be performed in theFBE mode prior to transmitting on an unlicensed channel, a UE may beunable to transmit uplink data in cases where the base station fails theLBT procedure and/or in cases where the base station does not performthe LBT procedure because the base station does not have a need totransmit downlink data. Consequently, a UE may be permitted to act as aninitiating device to perform an LBT procedure in the FBE mode in caseswhere the base station fails the LBT procedure or otherwise does nottransmit a COT indicator to share a channel occupancy time acquired bythe base station (e.g., because the base station did not perform the LBTprocedure due to a lack of downlink activity). For example, as furthershown in FIG. 4B, and by reference number 422, the UE may perform an LBTprocedure to start an FFP and initiate a COT in which to transmit one ormore uplink communications in cases where the UE does not detect a COTindicator from the base station. Accordingly, as further shown byreference number 424, the UE may transmit one or more uplinkcommunications over the unlicensed channel if the LBT procedure passes,and detecting the uplink transmission from the UE may indicate that thebase station can share the channel occupancy time acquired by the UE toperform downlink transmissions.

In some aspects, allowing the UE to initiate a channel occupancy time inFBE mode may improve access to the unlicensed channel, reduce uplinklatency, conserve power, reduce interference, and/or the like. Forexample, when the UE initiates a channel occupancy time, the UE can usethe channel occupancy time to transmit a physical random access channel(PRACH) for initial network access. In particular, during initialnetwork access, the UE may not yet be configured with a systeminformation radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI) or anotherknown RNTI used to monitor for a downlink transmission (e.g., downlinkcontrol information (DCI) scrambled with the SI-RNTI or other knownRNTI) to determine whether the base station has acquired a channeloccupancy time. This may restrict the ability of the UE to transmit aPRACH for initial network, whereby enabling the UE to initiate a channeloccupancy time may enable uplink PRACH transmissions before the UE hasbeen configured to monitor for downlink transmissions from the basestation.

Furthermore, allowing the UE to initiate a channel occupancy timeenables the UE to transmit a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)and/or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) earlier in an FFPassociated with a base station. For example, when sharing a channeloccupancy time acquired by a base station, the UE has to confirm thatthe base station acquired the channel occupancy time in an earlierportion of the FFP in order to enable transmissions in a later portionof the FFP (e.g., the UE needs to leave time in the earlier portion ofthe base station FFP to allow time for the downlink transmission fromthe base station, time for the UE to process the downlink transmission,and/or the like). Furthermore, allowing the UE to initiate a channeloccupancy time may save power at the base station and/or reduceinterference over the unlicensed channel. For example, in order to sharea channel occupancy time and enable uplink transmission within theshared channel occupancy time, the base station needs to activelytransmit one or more downlink communications in the earlier portion ofthe FFP, even if the base station does not have a need to transmit thedownlink communication(s). This may result in additional powerconsumption at the base station and extra interference on the unlicensedchannel, which can be avoided by allowing the UE to initiate a channeloccupancy time. Furthermore, allowing the UE to initiate a channeloccupancy time rather than relying on sharing a channel occupancy timeacquired by the base station may avoid problems that may otherwise arisewhere downlink signal detection has a reliability limitation.

Although allowing a UE to initiate a channel occupancy time during whichthe UE can conduct uplink transmissions over an unlicensed channel canimprove channel access, reduce uplink latency, conserve power, reduceinterference, and/or the like, challenges may arise in cases where abase station and one or more UEs acquire a channel occupancy time forthe same unlicensed channel. For example, as shown in FIG. 4C, an FFPthat is configured for a UE that is allowed to initiate a channeloccupancy time in FBE mode may generally have a start time that isoffset from a start time of the FFP that is configured for the basestation. Otherwise, if the FFP configured for the UE were to start atthe same time as the FFP configured for the base station, the UE and thebase station may each contend for access to the unlicensed channel atthe same time (e.g., by performing an LBT procedure in the idle periodprior to the FFP at the same time), which may result in the base stationfailing and the UE failing to detect each other. Furthermore, becausethe FFP configured for the base station and the FFP configured for theUE are both required by regulation to have an idle period at the end ofthe FFP, the idle period in the FFP configured for the base stationwould not be aligned with the idle period in the FFP configured for theUE.

As shown in FIG. 4C and by reference number 430, in cases where the basestation and the UE both successfully acquire a channel occupancy time,the base station may transmit in the channel occupancy time of the FFPconfigured for the base station during the idle period of the FFPconfigured for the UE, and vice versa. For example, FIG. 4C illustratesan example transmission timeline (Tx) in which a base station transmitsover an unlicensed channel during a channel occupancy time acquired bythe base station, and a UE may then transmit over the unlicensed channelduring a channel occupancy time acquired by the UE (e.g., during a gapin the transmissions by the base station). The base station may laterresume transmitting during the channel occupancy time acquired by thebase station (e.g., by performing a Cat-2 LBT procedure during a gap inthe transmissions by the UE), and the base station may then refrain fromtransmitting during the idle period that follows the channel occupancytime.

However, because the UE has acquired a channel occupancy time, the UEmay perform a Cat-2 LBT procedure and resume transmitting during aportion of the UE channel occupancy time that overlaps with the idleperiod in the base station FFP, and the base station may then acquireanother channel occupancy time in a next FFP and transmit during aportion of the base station channel occupancy time that overlaps withthe idle period in the UE FFP. In other words, due to the offset betweenthe UE FFP and the base station FFP (and resulting unaligned idleperiods), the base station channel occupancy time may overlap with theUE idle period and the UE channel occupancy time may overlap with thebase station idle period. As a result, each node may transmit during theidle period of the other node without leaving a gap that is long enoughfor other devices (e.g., LBE devices) to perform a Cat-4 LBT procedureand acquire the unlicensed channel, which completely starve the otherdevices of access to the unlicensed channel.

Some aspects described herein relate to techniques and apparatuses toconfigure or otherwise provide a UE FFP structure that may be used tocommunicate over an unlicensed channel without blocking other devicesfrom successfully contending for access to the unlicensed channel. Inparticular, an FFP configured for a UE in FBE mode may include a channeloccupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured for a base stationcommunicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel (e.g., to ensurethat the base station and the UE can detect each other when contendingfor access to the unlicensed channel). Furthermore, the FFP configuredfor the UE may include one or more idle periods that at least partiallyoverlap with a time period in which the base station refrains fromtransmitting over the unlicensed channel. In this way, the UE mayrefrain from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the one ormore idle periods, and the (at least partial) overlap between the one ormore idle periods in the FFP configured for the UE and the time periodin which the base station refrains from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel may ensure that other devices (e.g., LBE devices, such as WLANdevices) will be able to contend for access to the unlicensed channelwhen neither the base station nor the UE are transmitting.

As indicated above, FIGS. 4A-4C are provided as examples. Other examplesmay differ from what is described with regard to FIGS. 4A-4C.

FIGS. 5A-5F are diagrams illustrating examples 500 associated withproviding a UE FFP for FBE mode in unlicensed spectrum, in accordancewith the present disclosure. As shown in FIGS. 5A-5F, examples 500include a base station (e.g., base station 110 and/or the like) incommunication with one or more UEs (e.g., UE 120 and/or the like) in awireless network (e.g., wireless network 100 and/or the like).Furthermore, as described herein, the base station and the UE(s) may beconfigured to communicate on an uplink and a downlink using one or moreunlicensed channels in FBE mode. In some aspects, as described herein,the UE(s) may be allowed to initiate an LBT procedure to acquire achannel occupancy time in FBE mode, and an FFP configured for each UEmay be structured such that a start time of the UE channel occupancytime is offset from a start time of the base station channel occupancytime. Furthermore, as described herein, the FFP configured for the UEand the FFP configured for the base station may be configured such thatcommunication between the base station and the UE(s) include one or moresilent periods (e.g., idle periods within an FFP, silent periods betweenFFPs, and/or the like) that at least partially overlap. In this way,other devices (e.g., LBE devices) may perform a Cat-4 LBT procedureduring the one or more silent periods in order to acquire access to theunlicensed channel(s).

For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, and by reference number 510, the basestation may configure an extra idle period for one or more UEscommunicating with the base station over an unlicensed channel such thatthe base station and all served UEs communicating with the base stationare silent (e.g., refrain from transmitting) during the extra idleperiod. For example, in some aspects, the base station may transmitinformation indicating a structure of the FFP configured for the basestation in system information (e.g., in a system information block type1 (SIB-1), in UE-specific RRC signaling for an FBE secondary cell(Scell) use case, and/or the like). Accordingly, each UE served by thebase station may know the duration of the FFP configured for the basestation, the starting positions of the FFPs, the duration idle period ofthe FFP, and/or the like. Furthermore, in some aspects, the base stationmay transmit configuration information to each UE (e.g., in RRCsignaling) to indicate the extra idle period in which the respective UEis to be silent. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5A, the configurationinformation transmitted by the base station may modify the structure ofthe FFP configured for each UE such that the UE is to refrain fromtransmitting during the idle period at the end of the FFP configured forthe UE and further refrain from transmitting during the extra idleperiod configured by the base station.

In some aspects, as shown in FIG. 5A, the extra idle period may beconfigured to be aligned across all UEs served by the base station inorder to leave a common gap during which LBE devices (or other FBEdevices) can contend for access to the unlicensed channel. For example,in FIG. 5A, a first UE (shown as UE1) is configured with a first FFPthat starts a first offset after an FFP configured for the base station,and a second UE (shown as UE2) is configured with a second FFP thatstarts a second offset after the FFP configured for the base station. Inthis case, the idle period at the end of the FFP configured for the basestation are not aligned with the idle periods at the end of the FFPsconfigured for the first UE and the second UE, and the idle periods atthe end of the FFPs configured for the first UE and the second UE arenot aligned with each other. Accordingly, the base station configuresthe extra idle period to be aligned across the first UE and the secondUE (and any other UEs that may be communicating with the base stationover the unlicensed channel) to ensure that there is a common period inwhich all UEs served by the base station are to refrain fromtransmitting over the unlicensed channel. Furthermore, in some aspects,the extra idle period may be aligned with the idle period in the FFPconfigured for the base station such that the base station also refrainsfrom transmitting during the common period in which all UEs served bythe base station are to refrain from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel.

Alternatively, in some aspects, the extra idle period that is configuredto be aligned across all of the served UEs may be different from theidle period in the FFP configured for the base station. For example, theextra idle period may have a different start time or a different endtime than the idle period in the base station FFP. However, in general,the extra idle period may at least partially overlap with the basestation idle period to ensure that there is a period of time in whichneither the base station nor the served UE(s) are transmitting over theunlicensed channel. Alternatively, in cases where the extra idle perioddoes not overlap with the base station idle period, the UE(s) may beconfigured to apply one or more rules to ensure that the UE(s) refrainfrom transmitting during an idle period that overlaps with a time periodin which the base station is not transmitting over the unlicensedchannel.

For example, in cases where the UE(s) detect a downlink signal from thebase station during the channel occupancy time portion of the basestation FFP, the UE(s) may honor the normal idle period in the basestation FFP (e.g., the UE(s) may refrain from transmitting during thenormal idle period when the base station is guaranteed to not betransmitting). Otherwise, in cases where the UE(s) fail to detect adownlink signal from the base station during the channel occupancy timeportion of the base station FFP, the UE(s) may infer that the basestation did not acquire a channel occupancy time and may honor the extraidle period that is aligned across all served UEs but different from theidle period in the base station FFP. In this case, the UEs may determinethat the base station is not transmitting over the unlicensed channelduring the base station channel occupancy time due to the lack ofdownlink activity, whereby refraining from transmitting during the extraidle period that is aligned across all served UEs may be sufficient toensure that neither the base station nor any of the served UEs aretransmitting during the extra idle period.

Accordingly, in the example shown in FIG. 5A, the idle period in thebase station FFP and/or the extra idle period aligned across all servedUEs may serve as a global idle period in which the base station and allUEs served by the base station refrain from transmitting over theunlicensed channel. In this way, the idle period in the base station FFPand/or the extra idle period aligned across all served UEs may providean opportunity for neighbor devices (e.g., LBE devices) to step in andacquire access to the unlicensed channel. Furthermore, as shown anddescribed above, the extra idle period may be common among all servedUEs even if there are multiple UEs that have different FFP structures(e.g., different offsets from the base station FFP).

However, one penalty of the example shown in FIG. 5A is that the FFP(s)configured for the UE(s) include two idle periods, which may reduceresource utilization by decreasing the time in which the UE(s) maytransmit over the unlicensed channel. In some cases, the reducedresource utilization may be an acceptable penalty in cases where thechannel occupancy time acquired by the UE(s) does not need to be usedextensively. However, in other cases (e.g., the UE(s) have a significantamount of uplink data to transmit), the additional idle period mayresult in degraded performance.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5B, and by reference number 520, the UE(s)may be permitted to not honor the extra idle period configured by thebase station (e.g., the UE(s) may be permitted to transmit during theextra idle period) if the channel occupancy time started by the UE(s) isnot within a channel occupancy time started by the base station. Forexample, in cases where the base station does not contend for access tothe unlicensed channel, the base station would not start a channeloccupancy time and therefore does not transmit a downlink signal (e.g.,a COT indicator and/or the like) during an earlier portion of the basestation FFP. In such cases, the UE(s) may determine that the basestation is not occupying the unlicensed channel based at least in parton the lack of a downlink signal from the base station. Accordingly,based at least in part on the UE(s) determining that the base station isnot transmitting during the channel occupancy time of the base stationFFP, the UE(s) need not honor the idle period in the base station FFP,and the UE(s) may refrain from transmitting during only the idle periodat the end of the UE FFP(s). However, as shown by reference number 522,the UE(s) may be configured to honor the extra idle period (e.g., thebase station idle period) in cases where the channel occupancy timestarted by the UE(s) is within a channel occupancy time started by thebase station. In this way, resource utilization over the unlicensedchannel may be increased while still providing opportunities for otherdevices to perform an LBT procedure and acquire channel access.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5C, and by reference number 530, theFFP(s) configured for the UE(s) may be configured to have a single idleperiod with a start time that is aligned with a start time of the idleperiod in the base station FFP. In this case, an end time of the singleidle period may be aligned with an end time of the UE FFP. In otherwords, in the example shown in FIG. 5C, the base station and the UE(s)may all be silent during the idle period in the base station FFP andaligning the end time of the idle period(s) in the UE FFP(s) with an endtime of the UE FFP(s) may result in the UE FFP(s) having an idle timethat is longer than required. However, as described above with referenceto FIG. 4A, an idle period is generally required to be at least 5% ofthe total duration of an FFP, meaning that the idle period is permittedto be longer than the minimum required duration. In this case, becausethe idle period(s) in the UE FFP(s) have a start time aligned with thestart of the base station idle period and an end time aligned with anend time of the UE FFP, the UE(s) may refrain from (e.g., may notresume) transmitting in the channel occupancy time started by the UE(s)after the idle period in the base station FFP has elapsed. In this way,although the example shown in FIG. 5C may shorten the time period inwhich the UE(s) are allowed to transmit over the unlicensed channel, theextended idle period in the UE FFP(s) may conserve power, conserveprocessing resources, reduce interference, and/or the like by extendingthe amount of time that the UE(s) refrain from transmitting, by avoidinga need to perform a Cat-2 LBT procedure to resume transmitting, and/orthe like.

In another example, as shown in FIG. 5D, and by reference number 540,the base station and each UE served by the base station may berestricted from starting a channel occupancy time when sharing a channeloccupancy time of the other node. In such cases, both nodes (e.g., thenode that started the channel occupancy time and the node sharing thechannel occupancy time) may follow the idle period of the node sharingthe channel occupancy time. In other words, between the base station andthe UE, the idle period to be enforced may be determined according towhich node acquired the channel occupancy time. For example, asdescribed above, another node (e.g., an LBE device) may be starved ofchannel access in cases where a first node (e.g., a base station or UE)starts a first channel occupancy time and is able to transmit in theidle period of a second node (e.g., the base station or the UE), whichoccurs during the first channel occupancy time started by the firstnode. Furthermore, in such cases, the idle period when the first nodeperforms a Cat-2 LBT procedure to start a channel occupancy time in anext FFP occurs during a second channel occupancy time acquired by thesecond node. The channel occupancy time for each node therefore coversthe idle period in the FFP of the other node, creating a mutual coverthat blocks other devices from successfully contending for access to theunlicensed channel.

Accordingly, to disable or otherwise break the mutual cover, the basestation may be restricted from contending for access to the unlicensedchannel (e.g., cannot start a channel occupancy time) if the basestation is within a channel occupancy time started by the UE, in whichcase the base station sharing the channel occupancy time of the UE mayfollow the idle period in the FFP configured for the UE. Similarly, theUE may be restricted from contending for access to the unlicensedchannel (e.g., the UE cannot start a channel occupancy time) if the UEis within a channel occupancy time started by the base station, in whichcase the UE sharing the channel occupancy time of the base station mayfollow the idle period in the base station FFP. In this way, the basestation and the UE cannot start separate channel occupancy times thatoverlap with each other, and following the idle period in the FFP of thenode sharing the channel occupancy time may ensure that there is asilent period in which neither device is transmitting. Furthermore, incases where multiple UEs are permitted to start respective channeloccupancy times, the UEs may be configured with respective FFPs that arealigned with each other to ensure that the channel occupancy timesstarted by the UEs do not cover the idle period(s) in the FFP(s) of theother UE(s).

Furthermore, as shown by reference number 542, preventing a node fromstarting a channel occupancy time within a channel occupancy time sharedby the other node may result in an additional silent period when thenodes switch roles as initiating devices. For example, FIG. 5Dillustrates a transmission timeline in which the UE starts a channeloccupancy time that is shared with a base station, whereby the UE andthe base station are both silent during the idle period in the UE FFP.As further shown, the base station then passes an LBT procedure to starta channel occupancy time in a next FFP, whereby the UE and the basestation switch roles as devices initiating the channel occupancy time.Accordingly, there is an additional silent period between the channeloccupancy time started by the UE and the channel occupancy time startedby the base station (e.g., UE-to-BS channel occupancy time switching).Furthermore, the silent period may similarly be present in cases wherethe earlier channel occupancy time is started by the base station andthe later channel occupancy time is started by the UE (e.g., BS-to-UEchannel occupancy time switching).

In general, a duration of the silent period when the UE and the basestation switch roles as devices initiating a channel occupancy time maybe based at least in part on respective lengths of the base station FFPand the UE FFP. For example, FIG. 5D illustrates a transmission timelinewhere the base station FFP and the UE FFP are the same length. However,as shown in FIG. 5E, a duration of the silent period may be adjusted bychanging the length of the base station FFP and/or the UE FFP. Forexample, as shown by reference number 544, the duration of the silentperiod may be reduced in cases where the UE FFP has a shorter lengththan the base station FFP (e.g., there may be a shorter time periodbetween channel occupancy times when the base station and the UE switchroles as initiating devices).

In the examples shown in FIG. 5D and FIG. 5E, each node (including thebase station and any UEs served by the base station) is not allowed tostart a channel occupancy time within a channel occupancy time startedby the other node to avoid a mutual cover whereby two (or more) nodesare allowed to transmit during all of the idle periods. Althoughpreventing each node from starting a channel occupancy time in thechannel occupancy time of another node is sufficient to break the mutualcover, preventing each node from starting a channel occupancy time inthe channel occupancy time of another node is not necessary to break themutual cover. Instead, the mutual cover needs to be broken from one sideonly.

Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 5F, and by reference number 550, a UE isnot allowed to start a channel occupancy time when sharing a channeloccupancy time started by a base station, in which case the UE may honorthe idle period in the base station FFP. However, as shown by referencenumber 552, the base station may be allowed to start a channel occupancytime within a channel occupancy time started by the UE. Accordingly, theidle period in the base station FFP may always be idle whenever the basestation successfully acquires a channel occupancy time, and the basestation may be permitted to transmit during the idle period in the UEFFP. Furthermore, as shown by reference number 554, a silent period mayexist when switching from a channel occupancy time started by the basestation to a channel occupancy time started by the UE. In this way, thesilent period between the channel occupancy time started by the basestation and the channel occupancy time started by the UE may provide anadditional time when neither device is transmitting to compensate theloss of the idle period in the UE FFP due to the base station beingpermitted to transmit during the idle period in the UE FFP. In this way,other devices may have an opportunity to attempt an LBT procedure toaccess the unlicensed channel.

As indicated above, FIGS. 5A-5F are provided as examples. Other examplesmay differ from what is described with regard to FIGS. 5A-5F.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example process 600 performed, forexample, by a UE, in accordance with the present disclosure. Exampleprocess 600 is an example where the UE (e.g., UE 120 and/or the like)performs operations associated with a UE FFP for FBE mode in unlicensedspectrum.

As shown in FIG. 6 , in some aspects, process 600 may includedetermining an FFP configured for the UE in an FBE mode, wherein the FFPconfigured for the UE includes one or more idle periods and a channeloccupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured for a base stationcommunicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel (block 610). Forexample, the UE may determine (e.g., using controller/processor 280,memory 282, and/or the like) an FFP configured for the UE in an FBEmode, wherein the FFP configured for the UE includes one or more idleperiods and a channel occupancy time that is offset from an FFPconfigured for a base station communicating with the UE over anunlicensed channel, as described above.

As further shown in FIG. 6 , in some aspects, process 600 may includerefraining from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the oneor more idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the base station refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel (block 620). For example,the UE may refrain from transmitting (e.g., using controller/processor280, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, MOD 254, antenna252, memory 282, and/or the like) over the unlicensed channel during theone or more idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the base station refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel, as described above.

Process 600 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect orany combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with oneor more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the one or more idle periods include a first idleperiod at an end of the FFP configured for the UE and a second idleperiod configured by the base station.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, thesecond idle period is aligned across multiple UEs communicating with thebase station over the unlicensed channel.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the firstand second aspects, the second idle period is aligned with an idleperiod in the FFP configured for the base station.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through third aspects, the second idle period has a differentstart time or a different end time than an idle period in the FFPconfigured for the base station.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the firstthrough fourth aspects, refraining from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel during the one or more idle periods includes refraining fromtransmitting during the second idle period based at least in part on adetermination that a downlink signal from the base station is notdetected during a channel occupancy time in the FFP configured for thebase station, or refraining from transmitting during the idle period inthe FFP configured for the base station based at least in part ondetecting a downlink signal from the base station during the channeloccupancy time in the FFP configured for the base station.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the firstthrough fifth aspects, the UE refrains from transmitting during only thefirst idle period at the end of the FFP configured for the UE, based atleast in part on a determination that a downlink signal from the basestation is not detected during a channel occupancy time in the FFPconfigured for the base station.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through sixth aspects, the one or more idle periods include asingle idle period having a start time aligned with a start time of theidle period in the FFP configured for the base station and an end timealigned with an end of the FFP configured for the UE.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through seventh aspects, process 600 includes initiating an LBTprocedure to start the channel occupancy time in the FFP configured forthe UE.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the firstthrough eighth aspects, the LBT procedure is initiated based at least inpart on a determination that a downlink signal from the base station isnot detected during a channel occupancy time in the FFP configured forthe base station.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the firstthrough ninth aspects, the time period in which the base stationrefrains from transmitting over the unlicensed channel is aligned withan idle period at an end of the FFP configured for the UE based at leastin part on the UE initiating the LBT procedure to start the channeloccupancy time.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through tenth aspects, the one or more idle periods in which theUE refrains from transmitting over the unlicensed channel are alignedwith an idle period at an end of the FFP configured for the base stationbased at least in part on the base station initiating an LBT procedureto start a channel occupancy time in the FFP configured for the basestation.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through eleventh aspects, process 600 includes refraining fromtransmitting over the unlicensed channel during a silent period betweena first channel occupancy time started by the UE and a second channeloccupancy time started by the base station.

In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through twelfth aspects, the first channel occupancy time startedby the UE does not overlap with the second channel occupancy timestarted by the base station.

In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through thirteenth aspects, a duration of the silent period isbased at least in part on respective lengths of the FFP configured forthe UE and the FFP configured for the base station.

In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of thefirst through fourteenth aspects, the second channel occupancy time isstarted by the base station within the first channel occupancy timestarted by the UE.

Although FIG. 6 shows example blocks of process 600, in some aspects,process 600 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, differentblocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in FIG. 6 .Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 600may be performed in parallel.

The following provides an overview of some Aspects of the presentdisclosure:

Aspect 1: A method of wireless communication performed by a UE,comprising: determining an FFP configured for the UE in an FBE mode,wherein the FFP configured for the UE includes one or more idle periodsand a channel occupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured for abase station communicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel; andrefraining from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the oneor more idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the base station refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel.

Aspect 2: The method of Aspect 1, wherein the one or more idle periodsinclude a first idle period at an end of the FFP configured for the UEand a second idle period configured by the base station.

Aspect 3: The method of Aspect 2, wherein the second idle period isaligned across multiple UEs communicating with the base station over theunlicensed channel.

Aspect 4: The method of Aspect 2, wherein the second idle period isaligned with an idle period in the FFP configured for the base station.

Aspect 5: The method of Aspect 2, wherein the second idle period has adifferent start time or a different end time than an idle period in theFFP configured for the base station.

Aspect 6: The method of Aspect 5, wherein refraining from transmittingover the unlicensed channel during the one or more idle periodsincludes: refraining from transmitting during the second idle periodbased at least in part on a determination that a downlink signal fromthe base station is not detected during a channel occupancy time in theFFP configured for the base station, or refraining from transmittingduring the idle period in the FFP configured for the base station basedat least in part on detecting a downlink signal from the base stationduring the channel occupancy time in the FFP configured for the basestation.

Aspect 7: The method of any of Aspects 2-6, wherein the UE refrains fromtransmitting during only the first idle period at the end of the FFPconfigured for the UE, based at least in part on a determination that adownlink signal from the base station is not detected during a channeloccupancy time in the FFP configured for the base station.

Aspect 8: The method of Aspect 1, wherein the one or more idle periodsinclude a single idle period having a start time aligned with a starttime of the idle period in the FFP configured for the base station andan end time aligned with an end of the FFP configured for the UE.

Aspect 9: The method of any of Aspects 1-8, further comprising:initiating an LBT procedure to start the channel occupancy time in theFFP configured for the UE.

Aspect 10: The method of Aspect 9, wherein the LBT procedure isinitiated based at least in part on a determination that a downlinksignal from the base station is not detected during a channel occupancytime in the FFP configured for the base station.

Aspect 11: The method of any of Aspects 9-10, wherein the time period inwhich the base station refrains from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel is aligned with an idle period at an end of the FFP configuredfor the UE based at least in part on the UE initiating the LBT procedureto start the channel occupancy time.

Aspect 12: The method of any of Aspects 1-11, wherein the one or moreidle periods in which the UE refrains from transmitting over theunlicensed channel are aligned with an idle period at an end of the FFPconfigured for the base station based at least in part on the basestation initiating an LBT procedure to start a channel occupancy time inthe FFP configured for the base station.

Aspect 13: The method of any of Aspects 1-12, further comprising:refraining from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during a silentperiod between a first channel occupancy time started by the UE and asecond channel occupancy time started by the base station.

Aspect 14: The method of Aspect 13, wherein the first channel occupancytime started by the UE does not overlap with the second channeloccupancy time started by the base station.

Aspect 15: The method of any of Aspects 13-14, wherein a duration of thesilent period is based at least in part on respective lengths of the FFPconfigured for the UE and the FFP configured for the base station.

Aspect 16: The method of any of Aspects 13-15, wherein the secondchannel occupancy time is started by the base station within the firstchannel occupancy time started by the UE.

Aspect 17: An apparatus for wireless communication at a device,comprising a processor; memory coupled with the processor; andinstructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to perform the method of any of Aspects 1-16.

Aspect 18: A device for wireless communication, comprising a memory andone or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory and the one ormore processors configured to perform the method of any of Aspects 1-16.

Aspect 19: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising at leastone means for performing the method of any of Aspects 1-16.

Aspect 20: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication, the code comprising instructions executable by aprocessor to perform the method of any of Aspects 1-16.

Aspect 21: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set ofinstructions for wireless communication, the set of instructionscomprising one or more instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors of a device, cause the device to perform the method of any ofAspects 1-16.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but isnot intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the preciseforms disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light ofthe above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the aspects.

As used herein, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construedas hardware and/or a combination of hardware and software. “Software”shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code,code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules,applications, software applications, software packages, routines,subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures,and/or functions, among other examples, whether referred to as software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, orotherwise. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware and/ora combination of hardware and software. It will be apparent that systemsand/or methods described herein may be implemented in different forms ofhardware and/or a combination of hardware and software. The actualspecialized control hardware or software code used to implement thesesystems and/or methods is not limiting of the aspects. Thus, theoperation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were describedherein without reference to specific software code—it being understoodthat software and hardware can be designed to implement the systemsand/or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein.

As used herein, satisfying a threshold may, depending on the context,refer to a value being greater than the threshold, greater than or equalto the threshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to thethreshold, equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, or thelike.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are notintended to limit the disclosure of various aspects. In fact, many ofthese features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependentclaim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosureof various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination withevery other claim in the claim set. As used herein, a phrase referringto “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of thoseitems, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b,or c” is intended to cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well asany combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a,a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or anyother ordering of a, b, and c).

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed ascritical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as usedherein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or moreitems and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Further, asused herein, the article “the” is intended to include one or more itemsreferenced in connection with the article “the” and may be usedinterchangeably with “the one or more.” Furthermore, as used herein, theterms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more items (e.g.,related items, unrelated items, or a combination of related andunrelated items), and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.”Where only one item is intended, the phrase “only one” or similarlanguage is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,”“having,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, thephrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on”unless explicitly stated otherwise. Also, as used herein, the term “or”is intended to be inclusive when used in a series and may be usedinterchangeably with “and/or,” unless explicitly stated otherwise (e.g.,if used in combination with “either” or “only one of”).

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication performed by auser equipment (UE), comprising: receiving information associated with afirst idle period configured by a network node; determining a fixedframe period (FFP) configured for the UE in a frame based equipment(FBE) mode, wherein the FFP configured for the UE includes one or moreidle periods, including the first idle period and a second idle periodconfigured for the UE, and a channel occupancy time that is offset froman FFP configured for the network node communicating with the UE over anunlicensed channel; and refraining from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel during the one or more idle periods, wherein the one or moreidle periods at least partially overlap with a time period in which thenetwork node refrains from transmitting over the unlicensed channel. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the first idle period is aligned acrossmultiple UEs communicating with the network node over the unlicensedchannel.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first idle period isaligned with an idle period in the FFP configured for the network node.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first idle period has a differentstart time or a different end time than an idle period in the FFPconfigured for the network node.
 5. The method of claim 4, whereinrefraining from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the oneor more idle periods includes: refraining from transmitting during thefirst idle period based at least in part on a determination that adownlink signal from the network node is not detected during a channeloccupancy time in the FFP configured for the network node, or refrainingfrom transmitting during the idle period in the FFP configured for thenetwork node based at least in part on detecting a downlink signal fromthe network node during the channel occupancy time in the FFP configuredfor the network node.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE refrainsfrom transmitting during only the second idle period at an end of theFFP configured for the UE, based at least in part on a determinationthat a downlink signal from the network node is not detected during achannel occupancy time in the FFP configured for the network node. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first idle period orthe second idle period has a start time, aligned with a start time of anidle period in the FFP configured for the network node, and an end timealigned with an end of the FFP configured for the UE.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: initiating a listen-before-talk (LBT)procedure to start the channel occupancy time in the FFP configured forthe UE.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the LBT procedure is initiatedbased at least in part on a determination that a downlink signal fromthe network node is not detected during a channel occupancy time in theFFP configured for the network node.
 10. The method of claim 9, whereinthe time period in which the network node refrains from transmittingover the unlicensed channel is aligned with an idle period, of the oneor more idle periods, at an end of the FFP configured for the UE basedat least in part on the UE initiating the LBT procedure to start thechannel occupancy time.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one ormore idle periods in which the UE refrains from transmitting over theunlicensed channel are aligned with an idle period at an end of the FFPconfigured for the network node based at least in part on the networknode initiating a listen-before-talk procedure to start a channeloccupancy time in the FFP configured for the network node.
 12. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: refraining from transmitting overthe unlicensed channel during a silent period between a first channeloccupancy time started by the UE and a second channel occupancy timestarted by the network node.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thefirst channel occupancy time started by the UE does not overlap with thesecond channel occupancy time started by the network node.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein a duration of the silent period is based atleast in part on respective lengths of the FFP configured for the UE andthe FFP configured for the network node.
 15. The method of claim 12,wherein the second channel occupancy time is started by the network nodewithin the first channel occupancy time started by the UE.
 16. A userequipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and oneor more processors coupled to the memory, the one or more processorsconfigured to: receive information associated with a first idle periodconfigured by a network node; determine a fixed frame period (FFP)configured for the UE in a frame based equipment (FBE) mode, wherein theFFP configured for the UE includes one or more idle periods, includingthe first idle period and a second idle period configured for the UE,and a channel occupancy time that is offset from an FFP configured forthe network node communicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel;and refrain from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the oneor more idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the network node refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel.
 17. The UE of claim 16,wherein the first idle period is aligned across multiple UEscommunicating with the network node over the unlicensed channel.
 18. TheUE of claim 16, wherein the first idle period is aligned with an idleperiod in the FFP configured for the network node.
 19. The UE of claim16, wherein the first idle period has a different start time or adifferent end time than an idle period in the FFP configured for thenetwork node.
 20. The UE of claim 19, wherein the one or moreprocessors, when refraining from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel during the one or more idle periods, are configured to: refrainfrom transmitting during the first idle period based at least in part ona determination that a downlink signal from the network node is notdetected during a channel occupancy time in the FFP configured for thenetwork node, or refrain from transmitting during the idle period in theFFP configured for the network node based at least in part on detectinga downlink signal from the network node during the channel occupancytime in the FFP configured for the network node.
 21. The UE of claim 16,wherein the UE refrains from transmitting during only the first idleperiod at an end of the FFP configured for the UE, based at least inpart on a determination that a downlink signal from the network node isnot detected during a channel occupancy time in the FFP configured forthe network node.
 22. The UE of claim 16, wherein at least one of thefirst idle period or the second idle period has a start time, alignedwith a start time of an idle period in the FFP configured for thenetwork node, and an end time aligned with an end of the FFP configuredfor the UE.
 23. The UE of claim 16, wherein the one or more processorsare further configured to: initiate a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedureto start the channel occupancy time in the FFP configured for the UE.24. The UE of claim 23, wherein the LBT procedure is initiated based atleast in part on a determination that a downlink signal from the networknode is not detected during a channel occupancy time in the FFPconfigured for the network node.
 25. The UE of claim 23, wherein thetime period in which the network node refrains from transmitting overthe unlicensed channel is aligned with an idle period, of the one ormore idle periods, at an end of the FFP configured for the UE based atleast in part on the UE initiating the LBT procedure to start thechannel occupancy time.
 26. The UE of claim 16, wherein the one or moreidle periods in which the UE refrains from transmitting over theunlicensed channel are aligned with an idle period at an end of the FFPconfigured for the network node based at least in part on the networknode initiating a listen-before-talk procedure to start a channeloccupancy time in the FFP configured for the network node.
 27. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructionsfor wireless communication, the set of instructions comprising: one ormore instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of auser equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive information associatedwith a first idle period configured by a network node; determine a fixedframe period (FFP) configured for the UE in a frame based equipment(FBE) mode, wherein the FFP configured for the UE includes one or moreidle periods, including the first idle period and a second idle periodconfigured for the UE, and a channel occupancy time that is offset froman FFP configured for the network node communicating with the UE over anunlicensed channel; and refrain from transmitting over the unlicensedchannel during the one or more idle periods, wherein the one or moreidle periods at least partially overlap with a time period in which thenetwork node refrains from transmitting over the unlicensed channel. 28.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein thefirst idle period is aligned across multiple UEs communicating with thenetwork node over the unlicensed channel.
 29. An apparatus for wirelesscommunication, comprising: means for receiving information associatedwith a first idle period configured by a network node; means fordetermining a fixed frame period (FFP) configured for the apparatus in aframe based equipment (FBE) mode, wherein the FFP configured for the UEincludes one or more idle periods, including the first idle period and asecond idle period configured for the apparatus, and a channel occupancytime that is offset from an FFP configured for the network nodecommunicating with the UE over an unlicensed channel; and means forrefraining from transmitting over the unlicensed channel during the oneor more idle periods, wherein the one or more idle periods at leastpartially overlap with a time period in which the network node refrainsfrom transmitting over the unlicensed channel.
 30. The apparatus ofclaim 29, wherein the first idle period is aligned across multipleapparatuses communicating with the network node over the unlicensedchannel.